Although not as prevalent as it once was, we still occasionally are criticized because we insist upon searching all those who attend our regular meetings, in all our Mosques and Study Groups. The tone of the criticism usually implies that to take such precautions denotes a lack of confidence in the ability of God to protect us, and somehow demeans the House of Worship.

Occasionally, however events occur which should cause any reasonably sane person to re-evaluate this attitude. The most recent example of which I am cognizant occurred quite recently�March 12th, to be exact. A priest was conducting a morning Mass in Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Church in Lynbrook, New York, when a man strode through the main door, pulled a rifle from under his raincoat and began firing, The priest and a woman in the congregation were killed by bullets from the 22-caliber rifle. Two worshipers, one of whom was an off-duty police officer, chased the gunman and wrested the gun away, but he broke free and ran to a house about a block away where he had been living for the past two months. After a seven-hour standoff, they were able to apprehend him, but this did not help the victims.

Doctors who pronounced the priest dead at Mercy Medical Center said that it was "very likely he died at the altar."

The elementary school attached to the church locked its doors and confined the children to their classrooms. Some of the worried parents stood outside weeping.

Some of the parishioners noted the irony of the 50-year-old priest�s slaying at the altar, since he was an Air Force reservist who was a military chaplain during the Persian Gulf war and in other war zones for weeks at a time, but found death in his own church�a church which is directly across the street from the Police Department.

Naturally, people of low self-esteem feel honored when established rules are not applied to them. So, there are those among us�or who come among us�who feel that it is demeaning to be searched, and that it somehow increases their value as a human being to be exempted from the search procedure. I am thankful to Allah that, as worthless as I may be, my self evaluation is not so low that I feel it is an honor to avoid being searched. In fact, when such courtesy is extended to me, I have always insisted upon being searched, so that just about everybody knows now not to even suggest to me that I omit this standard procedure. I take the position that, if something as insignificant as being searched can affect my worth�or the lack thereof�then I can�t be worth too much to begin with!

Finally, and frankly, I do not trust anybody who has a problem with being searched. If you have nothing to hide, then a search is meaningless to you. When I encounter people who have a problem with the procedure, a quotation which I have heeded all my life comes to mind� "The wicked flee when no man pursueth!"